News Corp. Chairman Murdoch Sells $28.9 Million in Voting Shares

02/22/2013 | 06:15pm US/Eastern

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News Corp. (NWS, NWSA) Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch sold voting shares in the media company worth around $28.9 million this week, further reducing his voting stake by a fraction of a percent.

Mr. Murdoch sold a total of one million class B shares this week in two transactions, which valued the stock at $28.85 and $28.86 a share, according to a securities filing late Friday. The stock closed Wednesday at $29.03, according to financial data provider FactSet.

The sale comes after Mr. Murdoch last week sold voting shares in the company valued around $40.1 million.

Mr. Murdoch and his family own more than 39% of News Corp.'s voting shares. The vast majority of the family's stake is held through a Murdoch family trust. The shares sold both this week and last week were held by another trust for Mr. Murdoch's benefit.

This week's sale reduced that trust's stake to 8.25 million shares from 9.25 million shares. Overall, the Murdoch family's voting stake dropped to 39.4% from 39.56% as a result. Before last week's sale, the voting stake had been 39.7%.

Last November, Mr. Murdoch sold the remaining portion of his Class A, nonvoting shares in the company, which were valued at more than $10 million. He had sold another $62 million worth of nonvoting shares a year earlier.

This article was corrected at 6:20 p.m. EST because the original version incorrectly stated that News Corp. class B shares closed Wednesday at an all-time high of $29.91 in the second paragraph. The stock closed Friday at $29.03.